It’s been a disjointed day for your Bannerman. Firstly a network failure at the coal face followed by a very late start to the working day, which thanks to a faster than November broadband plan passed…..well, faster than expected.

The hooplah over Kevin “Needs-A-New-Suit” Rudd & Julia “Smile-Doll” Gillard continues on in the media. Pundits annoying the hell out of his sister in Nambour, cameras in his old bedroom and Harry Potter look-a-like reminiscences on every news channel at 6:00pm. Oh, the names? Take a gander at Kevin walking through the halls of power with “Smiley”. His suit coat doesn’t seem to fit him properly. A well cut suit shouldn’t show the bottom half of his tie and belt buckle when the top button is done up. As for Julia……for goodness sake, Girl!! Get your hair done by a professional coiffurist and practice smiling as if you really mean business! Sakes!

Just been through the RSS issues with the usual ho-hum’s writing their predictable passages. Just who is Antony Loewenstein anyway?

“In the current circumstances, replacing the leader may well get a boost in the polls, however momentarily, but the underlying issues remain. The ALP is a party of reaction, conservatism and policy deficiencies. Furthermore, the Hawke/Keating years may be fondly remembered by some ALP members, but both men contributed greatly to the slow dissolution of the welfare state.”

Is he always depressed, or just incapable of finding anything enlightening in life? I think he exists in an alternate timeline. The ALP I know from the Hawke-Keating years refined the welfare state, not dismantled it.

There’s the tropical madness club, led by that tottering centrist, Ken Parish, who really is about as evenly balanced as a lawn bowl.

”I’ve reluctantly plumped for the Rudd/Gillard “Dream Team”, but my own views are best summed up by Helen ’scepticlawyer’ Dale:“

No, no extra linkages, Ken. If readers are keen enough, they’ll drop by, won’t they. Anyway, back to the theme of this post. Noticed anything? Here’s a hint for you, and I don’t mean the rather well reasoned and articulate assessment by Tim Dunlop in his Murdoch-supported weblog. Go beyond Tim’s piece and read the comments. I dare say Tim quite enjoys attracting the cast-offs from Blair’s now strictly regimented and ‘very unattractive man’ style weblog, but ignore those rants and the rusted on conservative nay-sayers and what have you left? Very, very few with anything even remotely optimistic to say about the future for the ALP under a Rudd-Gillard leadership team. Why is this? Surely the same people weren’t in love with the Bomber, rest his political soul?

So, why the doom and gloom from so many over a man very few people are willing to say anything positive about, yet can’t claim to be speaking from positions of familiarity on, either. Is it necessary to be as charismatic as Robert James Lee Hawke was in 1982, in order to lead the party to election victory? Is it an absolute must to have been in government, as a part of your experience on your CV, for the electorate to take you seriously?, Do you really need a knee-slapping or dry-witted sense of humour to strike a chord with struggle street? So Kevin Rudd speaks fluent Mandarin and has filled diplomatic and high-profile public service positions. So what? He’s been a knee-capper for Wayne Goss, and carries the nickname, Dr Death. Surely that counts for something in terms of the man’s tenacity? Why then, is his history as much of a downer for his leadership future as some are claiming?

We’re a funny mob, we Australians. We rarely seem to find anything shiny while-ever we’re head down, bum up scrounging through the turdies of what we perceive current events to be. Oh woe is us! We’re beset by a corrupt, incompetent government who we know and will readily admit has lost all touch with us, but we’re reticent to let it go because…………why? What are we afraid of? What have we to lose? Is it best we simply allow the arrogance of Howard’s lot to rule ourselves as well as them? Does Labor really have nil, zero, zilch, nought, nada nothing to offer Australia in response the the Howardian style?

And what’s wrong with Kevin Rudd anyway? Hey look…..forget Julia. She’s window dressing. There has to be a deputy and she was his running mate, uncontested. So Julia gets to fill the right-hand seat. Big deal! The focus for Labor will be on the man in the left-hand seat. He can fly the ship, your Bannerman has no doubts whatsoever on that score. It’s his tactics in attacking the Howardian hot-airship which are of interest. He won’t be pulling a ‘Latham’ that much is certain. No radical, left-field policy tactics, just solid policy driven opposition to the Howardian nihilism with a view to further erosion of of the ‘devil-you-know’ ethos which has been drilled into the electorate over the past ten years.

Oh yes, the tactics of fear and loathing will come to the fore again, mark my words. But wake up, Australia! Look around and take heart. Listen, look and note the alternatives. There’s more to political life than Howard. Australia needs a change and Kevin Rudd leading Labor is well and truly worth a look. Have a bloody good look before you start listening to fear & loathing.